This Thirty-Year AI Expert Challenges the Notion That AI Can Think

There are people who say they are an AI expert and there’s Akli Adjaoute. He was on the case early in the technology’s lifecycle and brings a unique, grounded perceptive to its current and future usage honed over three decades of expertise. He is currently the founder of technology startup accelerator Exponion and former CEO of Brighterion, which was one of the first companies to see the promise and application of AI, and was acquired by Mastercard in 2017.

Adjaoute’s newly published book, Inside AI is the latest evolution of his thinking. Don’t expect it to add to the AI hype machine. Instead of speculating about the technology’s ability to think and reason, as several high-profile executives including Elon Musk have done recently, he promises to demystify AI’s complexities. Instead, he emphasizes its role as an effective tool rather than an autonomous entity. Adjaoute underscores the importance of understanding AI’s foundation in data and its limitations in replicating human intelligence.

All of which is not to say that Adjaoute isn’t a passionate advocate of the technology. As the expert told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster on the eve of Inside AI’s publication, it’s important to separate the hype from the reality in order to understand the technology, its promise and its limitations. All due respect to Elon Musk, he said, but “AI” and “think” don’t belong in the same sentence. Without completely understanding the exact workings of the human brain, how can we expect to copy it with data?

AI Isn’t Human

“AI does not have the ability to understand the way that humans understand,” he told Webster. “It follows patterns. As humans, we look for patterns. For example, when I recognize the number 8, I don’t see two circles. I see one. I don’t need any extra power or cognition. That’s what AI is based on. It’s the recognition of algorithms and that’s why they’re designed for specific tasks.”

Adjaoute has a more grounded view of AI than, for example, Musk or Meta AI chief Joelle Pineau, who said recently that her company is “hard at work in figuring out how to get these models not just to talk, but actually to reason, to plan… to have memory.” Adjaoute points out that AI simply lacks the innate complexity of the human thought process, and he elucidates the fundamental disparities between human cognition and artificial intelligence such as intuition, common sense, imagination, and creativity, which are pivotal in problem-solving and communication. He offered the example of the phrase “ocean breeze.” That phrase will stir memories and positive or negative connotations in the human mind that are bound to be unique to each person who hears it. Abstract ideas and nuances aren’t something that can translate to code and then data. That’s the fundamental difference, he says, between AI and the human brain — and is a gap that could never be breached.

AI won’t think for an executive in the financial services industry — or any industry — but it is still a promising and essential tool. Adjaoute likens AI to a versatile tool akin to a hammer, capable of constructive or destructive outcomes depending on its application. AI will not take on a life of its own. He stressed the need for human expertise to guide AI’s use effectively, highlighting the potential risks associated with its misuse, including cyber threats. On the other hand, AI has been developed as an effective tool for detecting and defending against bad actors online. Right now, he said the spectrum of AI use cases ranges from the routine and low-risk tasks to more strategic applications such as improvements in workflow, product innovation and insights from consumer transactional behavior.

Thinking Differently

“It takes combined thinking and imagination to build something exceptional,” he said. “We need thinking that’s more open, more flexible. We need people thinking a different way. So yes, it will be phenomenal for many businesses if we can get people to think differently.”

Adjaoute’s latest “thinking differently” is captured in Inside AI, available April 22.  The book is aimed at separating AI truth from hype, providing actionable strategies to drive innovation while dispelling myths and taking a realistic look at both successful and failed AI applications. Adjaoute said the book will balance AI’s capabilities and limitations and provide insight into expert management of AI projects. Because, as he said to Webster, even a mind like Da Vinci’s or Picasso’s could have benefitted from AI.

“What AI does most effectively is combine things without understanding humans,” he said. “Of course, when you combine millions of things with the human mind, I’m sure you will find something that’s spectacular, exceptional. That maybe it can relate to creating art because a human will probably will not think about all the possibilities. And in art, you may by combining all of this be able to generate things that a human cannot generate alone.”